]]>attends Stanford University. He is an actor, director, screenwriter and Sundance Fellow. In his big screen debut, he appeared opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Revenant”. Forrest appears also in “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” and in the important film “Indian Horse” a story that brings to light the infamous boarding school experiences of so many Indigenous peoples. In an article in The Guardian, Forrest is called “…the Native American actor ripping up the rulebook”. We like to believe his education at Escuela had something to do with that!

]]>http://www.escueladelsol.org/2018/10/22/forrest-goodluck/feed/0Elena Crowley-Ornelashttp://www.escueladelsol.org/2018/10/19/elena-crowley-ornelas/
http://www.escueladelsol.org/2018/10/19/elena-crowley-ornelas/#respondFri, 19 Oct 2018 17:47:17 +0000http://www.escueladelsol.org/?p=1736I graduated with a master of science in geology from Texas Tech University last weekend (August 2018) and I am working with the U.S. Geological Survey Texas Water Science Center. My thesis is about quantifying the impact geology has on the movement of groundwater to surface water and vice versa. In October, I will be […]

]]>I graduated with a master of science in geology from Texas Tech University last weekend (August 2018) and I am working with the U.S. Geological Survey Texas Water Science Center. My thesis is about quantifying the impact geology has on the movement of groundwater to surface water and vice versa. In October, I will be transferring to the USGS Lower Mississippi Gulf Region Water Science Center in Nashville, TN to work as a hydrologist in the water quality division. Right now I am part of a team that is working on a project to asses stream-flow alteration by humans in an effort to understand how human activities impact rivers and streams and how those impacts can be remediated. The ultimate goal is to restore a more natural system to improve the quality of the water that flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The water quality of surface water flowing into the Gulf of Mexico is important for the fishing economy of coastal regions. I was a student intern with the USGS for my two years in graduate school and I am very excited to continue working with them as a full employee.

I love to drive by and see all of the additions to Escuela and I love following Harwood on Instagram! It makes me happy to know I was a part of such a great community.

]]>http://www.escueladelsol.org/2018/10/19/elena-crowley-ornelas/feed/0Jeanne Callanhttp://www.escueladelsol.org/2018/10/19/jeanne-callan/
http://www.escueladelsol.org/2018/10/19/jeanne-callan/#respondFri, 19 Oct 2018 17:43:29 +0000http://www.escueladelsol.org/?p=1729Jeanne Louderbough Callan (class of 1983) was one of the first to graduate from Escuela Del Sol’s elementary program. Jeanne went on to earn a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona where she focused on understanding the molecular biology behind breast cancer metastasis. Following her graduate studies, Jeanne worked with […]

]]>Jeanne Louderbough Callan (class of 1983) was one of the first to graduate from Escuela Del Sol’s elementary program. Jeanne went on to earn a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona where she focused on understanding the molecular biology behind breast cancer metastasis. Following her graduate studies, Jeanne worked with a start-up biotechnology company focused on developing bioengineered synthetic materials to promote tissue regeneration. Eventually Jeanne went on to become a medical writer. In 2017, together with her husband Dr. Matt Callan, she founded a medical communications company, Headwaters Communications. They are devoted to helping life science companies translate complex scientific concepts into language that is accessible and meaningful. Jeanne lives in Lafayette, Colorado with her husband and their two children, Maya and Maren, who inspire her and make her laugh every single day.

]]>http://www.escueladelsol.org/2018/10/19/jeanne-callan/feed/0Sam’s Storyhttp://www.escueladelsol.org/2018/10/19/sams-story/
http://www.escueladelsol.org/2018/10/19/sams-story/#respondFri, 19 Oct 2018 17:31:10 +0000http://www.escueladelsol.org/?p=1711There are many things about a Montessori classroom that stand out as different from that of a typical elementary school. Taking even a cursory glance around, someone who was expecting a more standard classroom set-up would certainly take note of the free-flowing nature of the class, the organized chaos, the clusters of students sitting criss-cross […]

]]>There are many things about a Montessori classroom that stand out as different from that of a typical elementary school. Taking even a cursory glance around, someone who was expecting a more standard classroom set-up would certainly take note of the free-flowing nature of the class, the organized chaos, the clusters of students sitting criss-cross on the carpet, some drawing maps of Asia and others building models of water molecules. More still, on the far side of the room, practicing their weaving on miniature looms, and in the corner it would be hard not to notice the 3 ½ foot long Argentine Black and White Tegu lizard having its mid-day frozen mouse dropped into its tank by two squealing fourth graders.

I can see myself in there, sometime mid-2008, although it might take you a while to spot me. I’m not by the back window, taking advantage of the extensive and expensive science equipment, nor am I taking in the brief lesson on basic trigonometry happening on the floor. I’m sitting alone in a small, rectangular space hidden between three shelving units, huddled over a copy of Animal Farm. We called this “The Silent Reading Corner,” and no, it was not considered a form of punishment.

The Senior Elementary classroom at Escuela del Sol had everything that an elementary school classroom should have in it, and also what most of them lack. I loved the Mac computers, the live plants and animals, the beautiful Montessori materials, the Spanish classes and music lessons. I loved the books most of all though. They were real books, used books, not carefully selected for their pedagogical value or political correctness, but accrued over many rounds of donations, and they just sat there, on two black wooden shelves in the corner. Nobody ever forced me to read one, and nobody ever told me not to. It was an open invitation to the world of literature, and I ran through almost all of them in my two years there. I read the childhood classics of my grandparents generation, from The Count of Montecristo to The Swiss Family Robinson, I read the what my parents considered classics, from The Outsiders to The Phantom Tollbooth, I read what I will certainly tell my kids are classics, starting with all seven Harry Potter books.

Near the end of my fifth grade year the reality of assimilating into the greater educational system began to set in and it came time for Escuela to expose us to the most banal of assessment instruments, the standardized test. While I remember a certain amount of controversy and anxiety surrounding this event, I felt none of it myself, and was in fact totally uninterested in the round of practice testing as I was deep in a run of Shakespeare plays at the time that was more or less dominating my time at school and my mental energy. Each day that week I would race through whatever section of test we were working on as fast as I possibly could, then pick-up the class copy of Hamlet and devote my undivided attention to that until lunch and recess. I do not know what my scores on those tests were, but I did get into the private middle school of my choosing, and when it was time to go to college and take the ACT, I got a perfect 36/36 score on the reading section. I credit the silent reading corner.